Converting Railways To Roads
 

When little-used railway lines began to be closed in the
1950s, some people suggested they should be converted
to roads. In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.

Recently, while driving in rural Buckinghamshire, I came to a
very new-looking overhead bridge. I knew the railway line
had been closed several decades ago so I climbed up the
embankment . . . and found a new single lane road! It is
built on the track bed of the disused railway line which once
ran from Grendon Underwood Junction on the Great Central
Line to Ashendon Junction on the Great Western Line.

I was so intrigued I investigated where it began and ended.
The road runs north from the A41 a few miles north west of
Waddesdon. (South of the A41 the railway route is still
abandoned) The road ends more or less at the old junction
with the Great Central Line where there is now an industrial
estate; and I don't mean trading estate or retail park. The
only vehicles using the new road are heavy goods trucks.
The road is single lane with passing lay-bys every few
hundred yards.

This road is not shown on the current Ordnance Survey map
Landranger series, 2016 Crown Copyright, so presumably it is
very new.

Although the road is narrow and therefore has limited capacity,
because it follows the alignment of an old railway route, it has
no sharp bends or steep gradients and is far better than many
rural roads. It may be that the old notion of converting some
abandoned railway routes to roads was a good idea after all.

Converting Railways To Roads
 

On Sat, 7 May 2016 15:47:47 +0200
Robin9 wrote:
I was so intrigued I investigated where it began and ended.
The road runs north from the A41 a few miles north west of
Waddesdon. (South of the A41 the railway route is still
abandoned) The road ends more or less at the old junction
with the Great Central Line where there is now an industrial
estate; and I don't mean trading estate or retail park. The
only vehicles using the new road are heavy goods trucks.

Was it a private road or was their access from the A41?

rural roads. It may be that the old idea of converting some
abandoned railway route to roads was a good idea after all.

Don't forget the "cheap" busways some councils love, a lot of which have
been built on old railway lines.

--
Spud

Converting Railways To Roads
 

"Robin9" wrote in message
...

In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.


Here are some examples that I know of:

A22 East Grinstead
,17z
The 'conversion' was a fairly major bit of civil engineering for such a
short piece of road, involving digging out two short tunnels along with
major reconstruction of several roads elsewhere in the town.

A283 Steyning Bypass
,16z
This required a couple of bridges to be rebuilt, but was otherwise fairly
straightforward.

A61/A617 Chesterfield
,14z
This is rather more extensive, and all dual carriageway. Other than a short
tunnel under the town centre nearly all of the route shown is on the
ex-Great Central trackbed.

--
DAS

Converting Railways To Roads
 

On Sat, 7 May 2016 19:07:58 +0100, "D A Stocks"
wrote:

"Robin9" wrote in message
...

In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.


Here are some examples that I know of:

A22 East Grinstead
,17z
The 'conversion' was a fairly major bit of civil engineering for such a
short piece of road, involving digging out two short tunnels along with
major reconstruction of several roads elsewhere in the town.

A283 Steyning Bypass
,16z
This required a couple of bridges to be rebuilt, but was otherwise fairly
straightforward.

A61/A617 Chesterfield
,14z
This is rather more extensive, and all dual carriageway. Other than a short
tunnel under the town centre nearly all of the route shown is on the
ex-Great Central trackbed.

When you drive to Blakpool, the M55 deposits you on Yeadon Way, which
was a former railway embankment that takes you into the car parks
where the former Blackpool Central station used to be.

Converting Railways To Roads
 

On 07/05/2016 19:07, D A Stocks wrote:
"Robin9" wrote in message
...

In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.


Here are some examples that I know of:

A22 East Grinstead
,17z
The 'conversion' was a fairly major bit of civil engineering for such a
short piece of road, involving digging out two short tunnels along with
major reconstruction of several roads elsewhere in the town.

A283 Steyning Bypass
,16z
This required a couple of bridges to be rebuilt, but was otherwise
fairly straightforward.

A61/A617 Chesterfield
,14z
This is rather more extensive, and all dual carriageway. Other than a
short tunnel under the town centre nearly all of the route shown is on
the ex-Great Central trackbed.

--
DAS


Also
Merantun Way, London
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...3!4d-0.1860826

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Converting Railways To Roads
 

On Sat, 7 May 2016 19:07:58 +0100, "D A Stocks"
wrote:

"Robin9" wrote in message
...

In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.


Here are some examples that I know of:

A22 East Grinstead
,17z
The 'conversion' was a fairly major bit of civil engineering for such a
short piece of road, involving digging out two short tunnels along with
major reconstruction of several roads elsewhere in the town.

A283 Steyning Bypass
,16z
This required a couple of bridges to be rebuilt, but was otherwise fairly
straightforward.

A61/A617 Chesterfield
,14z
This is rather more extensive, and all dual carriageway. Other than a short
tunnel under the town centre nearly all of the route shown is on the
ex-Great Central trackbed.

Yeadon Way in Blackpool and I believe part of the M55 also:
http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/i...tle=Yeadon_Way

Edinburgh Western Approach road:
http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/i..._Approach_Road

Converting Railways To Roads
 

"Tony Dragon" wrote in message
...
Also
Merantun Way, London
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...3!4d-0.1860826

And the Otley bypass
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sideb...&right=BingHyb
and http://s32.postimg.org/gcd3m2dz9/otley.png

Converting Railways To Roads
 

"Tony Dragon" wrote in message
...
Also
Merantun Way, London
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...3!4d-0.1860826

And the Otley bypass http://s32.postimg.org/gcd3m2dz9/otley.png (can't link
to precise map from Nat Lib of Scotland site).

Also the A170 just east of Kirkbymoorside in North Yorkshire uses the
trackbed of the disused railway: a bypass was built which avoid a tortuous
route through a nearby village.

Converting Railways To Roads
 

In message , D A Stocks
writes
"Robin9" wrote in message
...

In the '60 and '70s some extremists, including
The Economist magazine, suggested that railways were
obsolete and that all the railway lines should be so converted.
This idea was repudiated by most sensible people and some
motoring organisations pointed out that railway routes were
not wide enough to be suitable for main roads.


Here are some examples that I know of:

A22 East Grinstead
,17z
The 'conversion' was a fairly major bit of civil engineering for such a
short piece of road, involving digging out two short tunnels along with
major reconstruction of several roads elsewhere in the town.

A283 Steyning Bypass
,16z
This required a couple of bridges to be rebuilt, but was otherwise
fairly straightforward.

A61/A617 Chesterfield
,14z
This is rather more extensive, and all dual carriageway. Other than a
short tunnel under the town centre nearly all of the route shown is on
the ex-Great Central trackbed.

--
DAS

Western Approach Road , Edinburgh

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/i..._Approach_Road

Brian
--
Brian Howie

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Converting Railways To Roads
 

On 07/05/16 19:59, NY wrote:
"Tony Dragon" wrote in message
...
Also
Merantun Way, London

[...]

And the Otley bypass

[...]

The Axbridge bypass was built over part of the Cheddar Valley line.